I have a 2001 SE 2.4. Just yesterday my engine started hesitating badly when I accelerate. Put the foot down on the pedal and the car shakes like an earthquake. I don't think it's miss firing cuz it doesn't sound like that. It would be nice if it were something as easy as a clogged fuel filter, so I'm going to try changing that today (but of corse it's probably not that easy...it's never that easy).

I'm worried that it's an electrical problem, fuel delivery problem...who knows. Where should I start? I haven't had much of an opportunity to work on this engine yet so I'm kinda lost.

It could miss firing. Either a plug could be loose or wire. Check ur wires and plugs to make sure everything is on tight, and that the plugs have the right gap. It could also be that you have bad gas. Sometimes when a car has bad gas it will get an air pocket and cause problems when accelerating. Good Luck

Ok so I took my car to the dealer for this problem and as it turned out the "coil housing" was bad. It was this platic dish thing that connected the coils to the plugs and apparently it was shorting out. The technician said that he pulled all the plugs and they looked perfect.

But now after he fixed the hesitation problem, the engine is pinging slightly!! RRRRRGGGGG!!! I don't know if the technician that worked on my car did something wrong, but it never pinged before I took it in for the hesitation problem.

So what I did was I went to the local performance shop and got an octane addative. This stuff is supposed to boost the octane in the fuel to 110. That has fixed the problem for now, as the engine is not pinging with the addative. But that's just a bandaid.

I do NOT want to take the car back to the dealer again. So does anyone have any suggestions about what I can do to fix this ping problem?

I have the 4-cyl. 2.4 litre engine by the way...a bit different than the V6.

It still sounds like something is wrong with the plugs or a plug or even just a wire. Something is loose. Try just pushing down on a wires that go onto the plugs, and hopefully the wires match up with the distrubator.

2.4's have the wires intergrated into the valve cover if I recall correctly, so you don't just end up with a loose wire. I would finish off this tank of gas, and then fill up at a reputable station with your usual grade. Its pretty likely that you just ended up with some bad gas, it'll cause a ping for sure. Also, your computer might have been compensating some for your other problem, and needs a little time on the road to adjust back to normal.